3 Migrants Dead, 13 Missing After Human Smuggler’s Boat Sinks in Caribbean

At least three migrants are dead and 13 others are missing after a stolen boat used by human smugglers capsized in the Eastern Caribbean Sea. The boat was reportedly headed to the U.S. Virgin Islands with 32 souls on board.

Officials from the island of St. Kitts reported they rescued 14 people from Cameroon early Tuesday morning after a boat used by human smugglers capsized and sank, according to an AP report published by ABC News. The boat reportedly left Antigua and was headed to the U.S. Virgin Islands with 32 migrants.

Anthony Comrie, the head of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defense Force said the group had been staying on the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe and then headed to Antigua a week ago.

Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne responded to the tragedy, saying, “My government has been making every effort to be helpful to these brothers and sisters from Africa who were marooned on Antigua, including by granting them residence and the opportunity to work.”

Earlier this month, the BBC reported more than 600 Cameroonian migrants were stranded in Antigua. The migrants in Antigua say they want to go to the United States to take advantage of the temporary protected status offered by the Biden administration last June.

The BBC reports:

[A Cameroon migrant named Daniel says] he is one of more than 600 desperate Cameroonian migrants to have instead found himself stranded on a tiny island of 94,000 people in the Eastern Caribbean via what appears to have been an unscrupulous people-smuggling operation.

Some forked out as much as $6,000 (£5,000) on charter flights marketed on social media by bogus tour companies pledging to organise immigration logistics as part of the package.

Most of those who have unwittingly ended up in Antigua – an island some of them said they had never heard of before – say they had only expected to stay for a few days before being taken to South America, from where they had planned to make their way north to the US.

But when the transport failed to materialise, they were stuck in Antigua with no money left to fund their onward journey.

Officials report the boat used in the fatal human smuggling attempt was stolen in Antigua, the ABC report added. Authorities rescued 16 people including 14 Cameroonian migrants and two Antiguans.

The boat capsized and sank for an as yet unknown reason approximately 40 miles northwest of Antigua, according to Colonel Telbert Benjamin, Antigua’s chief of defense. He said deep waters would complicate the recovery of the vessel.

Prime Minister Browne called the matter an “unlawful and dreadful affair” and pledged an investigation into the involvement of local residents.